Arkansas-Florida basketball time moved to avoid bowl conflict

Mike Anderson, Arkansas head coach, leads the team against Stephen F. Austin on Thursday Dec. 1, 2016 during the game in Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

— Arkansas has changed the time of its SEC basketball opener to avoid a conflict with the Razorbacks' football bowl game.

Arkansas' basketball game against Florida will now begin at 8 p.m., instead of its originally-scheduled 6 p.m. start time. The game will be played at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville and will still air on SEC Network.

A game between Tennessee and Texas A&M previously was scheduled to be played at 8 p.m. on the SEC Network. It's unclear whether that game was moved to accommodate Arkansas and Florida.

The Razorbacks' football team is scheduled to play Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl at 4:30 p.m. that day. Arkansas' bowl game also conflicted with its SEC basketball opener last season, but that basketball game was played at Texas A&M.

Florida, ranked No. 21 in this week's Associated Press poll, is Arkansas' marquee opponent this season at home and coinciding games likely would have significantly reduced attendance at the basketball arena.

The Razorbacks' basketball attendances have been lower than normal this season. Two of the three smallest announced attendances ever at Bud Walton Arena were for games against Southern Illinois and Mount St. Mary's in November.

Arkansas also announced an initiative Friday to fill vacant student seats during the university's winter break. Students with game passes can donate their tickets back to the Razorbacks athletics department, which will distribute the passes among area nonprofit organizations.

“We always love having our students at Bud Walton Arena to cheer on our guys, but we realize that during the holiday break many students leave campus and aren’t able to attend all of the games.” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said in a statement. “Thanks to our partnership with (Associated Student Government), this is a great opportunity for students to give back as well as introduce new fans to Razorback basketball."

In addition to Florida, the Razorbacks also are scheduled to play home games against North Dakota State on Dec. 20 and Mississippi State on Jan. 10 during the university break.